TREES ALIVE! — a collaborative research and travel exchange between American and Japanese landscape architecture programs to study the techniques, details, and cultural traditions for trees in contemporary urban landscapes — has received a 2025 national Honor Award for Student Collaboration from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). Professor Ron Henderson FASLA will join the students in New Orleans to receive the award on Saturday, October 11, at the annual meeting of the ASLA.

Students participated in collaborative technical workshops and visits to significant gardens and landscapes to investigate urban tree planting and legacy tree conservation in Tokyo, Kanazawa, Chicago, Columbus (Indiana), Philadelphia, and New York. Two technical booklets — one for Japan sites and one for the United States sites — documented 30 gardens and landscapes in 270 pages for this externally funded research.

The ASLA notes: “Each year, ASLA bridges the generations of landscape architects by honoring not only established professionals, but the students who represent our future. These awards are the Society’s way of elevating great work by our professional peers, but also of building awareness with the public about the enormous contributions landscape architecture makes to the quality of life in communities all around the world.” The ASLA recognizes the best work done by landscape architecture students from the United States and around the world. This year, the ASLA received 394 eligible entries, of which 34 received awards for work in the United States, Canada, Ukraine, Germany, India, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, and China.

The project was published in the September issue of Landscape Architecture Magazine, the most widely distributed global publication in landscape architecture.

The award jury noted: “Beautiful book! The research that the team conducted is very thorough and collaborative — an exciting exchange of insights, cross-cultural camaraderie, and learning…”